Grading can only be set up on a computer.įor your grading system, you can choose Total points or Weighted by category grading. Either grading system can work depending on your situation.This article is for teachers. The letter grade gives you a better overall picture of performance, but the rubrics can show a picture of where a student’s strengths and weaknesses are. In my particular situation with my children, I would like to see an overall letter grade with a small breakdown of specific benchmarks that can fall on a rubric. As we can see, there may be a place for both. What works for one district or teacher may not work for others. Students are expected to reach Achieving by the end of the school year in each listed benchmark. When a student brings home this rubric throughout the year, parents can see where the student is progressing and where they need work. Again, instead of the child bringing home a “B” on an assignment, the teacher will circle where the student falls for each specific skill. In the above reader’s rubric, a teacher can give parents specific information on a student’s reading progress. With this particular system, the goal is to reach Achieving (ACH) by the end of the year in each listed benchmark. The black box gives explanations of each marking, helping to reinforce the meanings of each. This system gives parents more information about the particulars of a subject and may help focus on particular weaknesses a student may have. Parents can see where the student is growing throughout the year. So instead of getting a letter grade for the first quarter in reading, the teacher writes a number for each skill in order to rate the student’s progress. In the above learner’s profile (fancy term for grade card!), you’ll see that the two subjects listed are broken down into skill sets. Our school spends a great deal of time acclimating parents and students who are new to the district in an attempt to educate them on the use of the rubrics. Also, as parents who grew up with letter grades, the rubrics can be difficult to understand. Opponents of rubrics tend to feel they are more subjective than a letter grade. You can see a progression through a particular skill set when you compare two rubrics.The pressure often associated with letter grades is not as much of an issue.Rubrics give a specific breakdown of the skills assessed on a given test or assignment.Some of the benefits of using rubrics are: Some for specific subjects or projects, while others also use them on grade cards in place of letter grades. Schools today use them to varying degrees. I was first exposed to them when I was writing for textbook companies in 2003. When I first began teaching years ago, I had never even heard of a rubric. Anything that may harm a child’s confidence is seen as a negative. We are more protective of children and their self esteem now more than ever. You have your “A+” kids and those that do not earn passing grades. Those that are against letter grades usually point to the stigma that comes with this type of system. It goes back to the basic mathematical equation you can weigh assignments differently, but still use the same system.
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